Reflections of a multidimensional sunbaked servant of the Most High. Powered by Loveforce. Emitting Soulforce.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Plastic not fantastic...much

Last week I was surprised to learn that there is a
difference between “bio-degradable” plastic bags and “degradable” ones. And
here I was cheering on the shift to degradable plastic bags.

According to www.green-plastics.net,
the word “degradable” just means that something breaks down. Technically, all
plastic is degradable plastic. You can
break it with a hammer. You can grind it into a fine powder. This all counts as “breaking down” the
plastic, and therefore (technically) “degrading” the plastic.

This creates a little bit of confusion, because some
plastics will add chemicals that will make the plastic break down faster under
certain conditions. For example, you can add an additive to normal, petroleum-based
plastic that will make it become brittle and crumble in sunlight: this is
referred to as making “photodegradable” plastic. Other additives can be put
into plastic that will make plastic break down by oxidation: this is referred
to as making “oxo-degradable plastic.”

These methods will make the bulk of the plastic appear to
disappear; however, the small pieces (or even find “sand”) that is produced by
this effect is still small pieces of plastic.
Nothing has changed. Over a matter of years, it is possible for the
pieces to become small enough to be assimilated by microorganisms, but there is
still a lot of research that needs to be done to verify how long this might
take. In the meantime, they are just
very small pieces of plastic.

So be cautious when you see a plastic product that
advertises that it is “degradable” but not “biodegradable” or “compostable,”
because this is nothing special. The
plastic material does not “return to the earth” in any real way. It just gets
really, really small.

Biodegradable plastic on the other hand, is not just
degradable, but it also means something more: it means that it can be broken
down by the metabolism by micro-organisms.
When a plastic is biodegradable, it can be digested, so that the carbon
atoms in the chains of the polymer are broken apart and can actually
participate in the creation of other organic molecules. They can be processed by, and become part of,
organic living things. This returns them to nature in a very real sense: they
become part of the carbon cycle of the ecology of the earth.

Only bioplastics will biodegrade within any reasonable
timescale. Petroleum-based plastic that
simply breaks down into a fine sand or small pieces still cannot be digested by
microorganisms. Perhaps over the time-span of many years, the pieces may get so
small that they can be digested by microorganisms. This is currently the focus
of a great deal of research and debate, as different groups try to establish
how quickly oxo-degradable plastics can be reduced to a form where they are
actually biodegradable.

It is also important to note that even some plastics that
are made from renewable resources are processed in a way that makes them
non-biodegradable. They are still
“degradable” but they do not return to the earth, and cannot be processed by
microorganisms. That is why the difference between biodegradable plastics, and
non-biodegradable plastics, is so important.

I also happened to find out about a third type of plastic
- Compostable Plastic. When something is
compostable, it means that it biodegrades, but it also means something more: it
will degrade within a certain amount of time, under certain conditions. For many types of bioplastic, it’s possible
to say that it will break down “eventually”, but if you seal it in an air-tight
room, it could take thousands of years.

The standards organizations that regulate materials have
come up with a series of tests and benchmarks, saying that if a biodegradable
plastic will completely biodegrade fast enough in a certain type of
environment, then it can be labelled “compostable.”

So these three terms aren’t really different “classes” of
plastic, in the sense of being separate sets. They are subsets of one another:
all compostable plastics are biodegradable, and all biodegradable plastics are
degradable. But be wary of people who
make claims about the “degradability” of their product: because not all
degradable plastics are biodegradable, or compostable.

As I go for my Stand-Up-Paddle sessions in Laucala Bay I
come across so many discarded plastic bags on the beach and in the ocean.
Because they are “degradable,” it is very hard to scoop the plastic out of the
water. Instead it disintegrates in your hands, before your very eyes, leaving
you with the knowledge that it will now end up in the stomach of a fish and
then enter the web of life in the ocean.

With all that we are doing to our planet, the
disrespectful way we are treating creation, can we take a moment to make
educated, careful and positive decisions to take just one simple step, which
will begin to restore the balance of nature – take your own bags for shopping
(especially the recycled kind). And
find out, if the plastic that is being used is truly “bio-plastic”. If it is
not.. perhaps you can educate others on the importance of knowing the
difference.